Dream
by Furabafan1313
Summary: When it comes to the charismatic Red King, many people tend to surround him, but everyone has different reasons for being with him. Some want the power he can offer them, some respect him, some love him, and for some, he is the only chance for their dream to come true.
1. A Meeting and a Decision

A/N: Well, here goes my first story on Fanfiction. Just watched this anime a night ago and loved it. Hated how it ended, even if I did see why it how to go down that way. Now I'm doing anything and everything related to it, including writing this story.

A Meeting and a Decision

The sidewalks were crowded with people going about their everyday business. Three high school girls walked along, blending into the crowd as they laughed cheerfully. Suddenly one giggled and said "Wow, he's pretty hot!"

Both girls glanced over to where their friend was looking. One looked with a face that clearly stated her indifference, but the other looked with excitement and curiosity until her eyes landed on who her friend was talking about.

"You can't be serious Eri" she exclaimed! The girl, Eri, looked at her friend with shock, "Don't tell me you don't see it. I mean he's hot!" Her friend gave an exasperated snort, "Maybe so, but look at him! He's obviously some hoodlum or gangster, and what's up with his company" she replied.

Eri glanced back at the tall man with vibrant red hair who had a cigarette clenched in between his lips. Beside him were two males, one slightly taller with blond, shoulder length hair and the other was shorter than the other two with a smile on his face and light brown hair that covered the back of his neck and descended down his ears.

The strangest, though, was the little girl with long silver hair wearing a red dress and matching hat attached to the red haired man's jacket sleeve. Eri turned back to her friend with wide eyes and said "Your right! Do you think those people are models! They're all so beautiful!" Her friend face palmed with a groan.

"Can you believe her Azami?...Azami?" the girl asked. Both girls turned to look at their friend Azami. Shocked was the only word that could describe their expressions. "Wh-what's the matter" Eri exclaimed.

The three girls had been friends for three years and never once had they seen Azami cry or show any emotion that wasn't sarcastic or happy, but when they turned to their friend, tears were streaming down her face. "So…sad...lonely. I can practically feel it coming off in waves" she whispered.

The two other girls shared a worried glance, but cried out when she started to move towards the before mentioned group. "Azami! Come back! There's no telling who those people are" her friend cried while her other friend Eri just looked on nervously.

She made her way towards the group earning their attention. With tears flowing down her face she looked up at the red haired man. He looked down at her with a quirked eyebrow that asked the question "what do you want?" without him having to speak, while the others just stared at her albeit the light brown haired boy had a smile on his face that spoke his good nature and well intentions. "Please" Azami said, "let me stay with you."

The brown haired boy's smile grew while a smirk came to the blonde's face. The red haired man's face looked down at her, his eyes boring into hers as if searching her soul. He glanced back at the brown haired boy, who pulled out his phone, then nodded eagerly. The red haired man offered his hand to the girl.

She looked down at it with a smile, before it burst into flames. She took a startled half-step back. Eyes flashing up to the red haired man's face, which now wore a smirk. Without another second's hesitation, she held his eyes and grabbed his hand.

Expecting a pain that never came, she glanced down in amazement at her hand being engulfed in flames, yet not being burned. She felt a heat spread up her arm and onto her neck. It then receded and the fire was extinguished .

"Congratulations!" the brown haired boy exclaimed, "You're now a member of Homra!" Azami looked over to the boy in confusion. "Homra!?" "Azami! Are you okay! We saw the flames…Uh..How aren't you hurt?!" her two friends exclaimed as they ran up to her.

She glanced around at her surroundings and noticed that no one was paying them any attention. In fact, it looked as if they were pointedly not looking at the group as they walked by.

Azami put her hand up to her neck where all the heat had pinpointed. She saw her friends eyes widen and Eri exclaimed "How did you get that tattoo?!" Azami looked at them and then back at the group she had just approached. She felt a grin come to her face as she turned to her friends and replied "Homra."

Her friend's faces paled as they looked at the others. "You guys can go on a head" she said, "I'll see you tomorrow during school." "But," they began. "Seriously, go. I'm fine." After casting one last uneasy glance at the group, they departed.

"Care if I ask young lady, what was it, Azami? why did you decide to join Homra?" the blond man asked, his smirk now replaced with a questioning look. Azami looked into the eyes of the red haired man and realized that he could be none other than Mikoto Suoh, the leader of Homra.

Right then, everything changed for her. The others noted how her gaze hardened with determination. "I have a dream," she said, "and being a part of Homra and beneath Mikoto Suoh is the only way I'll be able to achieve it."

The brown haired boy smiled as he introduced himself, "I'm Tatara Totsuka, this here is Izumo Kusanagi," he said pointing to the blond man, "this is Anna Kushina" he pointed to the little girl who starred up at her with an emotionless face, "and you obviously already know our King, Mikoto Suoh." Azami smiled. "Azami Adachi" she replied.

Tatara Totsuka laughed happily and said, "Welcome to Homra, Adachi-san. I look forward to guiding you. I never thought King would actually perform the initiation out in the open like this! He must have saw something pretty interesting in you!"


	2. A Time Not to Break

A Time Not to Break

Azami sat reading a book at one of the stools inside HOMRA. It had been a week today since she had joined and met the other members. She tried to block out the irritating sounds of them as she heard them bickering over something stupid. Every day she had come to HOMRA, and she had met some of the most interesting people.

Tatara Totsuka seemed to never do anything for very long if everyone could be believed. Apparently, he never lasted longer than a month on one thing and continuously did something new. Izumo Kusanagi had seemed like a very nice guy...until two members got into a fight and one scuffed his bar a bit, then he turned into a demon.

Azami had to admit, that had been very enjoyable to watch, from a safe distance of course. Anna Kushina had been rather distant to her until she had offered to braid her hair, that seemed to put her in the little girl's good graces, which was very enjoyable because she was so freaking adorable.

One member; a rather short, in temper and stature, brown headed boy around her age; was named Misaki Yata. When she was introduced to him she had smiled and held out her hand, but to her surprise his face had turned bright red as he took her hand and had stuttered over his words like a buffoon.

She had sensed that he was very nervous and embarrassed, so she assumed that either he was just normally that way or he wasn't good around girls.

She had quickly found out that he merely wasn't good with girls, because he certainly didn't act nervous or embarrassed around any of the others. Kosuke Fujishima constantly brought in some sort of stray animal to tend to, and really the list just went on and on with how 'unique' all the members were. She thought about when she had first met Yo Chitose.

He had hit on her immediately until learning that she was a new member and then got this shocked look on his face before apologizing and taking it all back.

"Is your book that good?" She looked up, being dragged out of her day dream by Kusanagi's voice. "What?" she asked in confusion. Kusanagi smirked and said "you had this really big smile on your face while staring at you book, so I assumed something really good must have been happening."

"Oh" she hadn't realized she'd been smiling, "no, I was merely remembering something good" she replied with a smile. Masaomi Dewa, a member, walked over and sat down on the stool next to hers. "You seem to really enjoy reading" he observed. She smiled. "It's my favorite pass time actually."

"Whaaat?" Yata said as he walked over "but reading is so boring" he said. He had gotten over his embarrassment and had decided that he wasn't much of fan of Azami. It had almost everything to do with how she addresses Mikoto so familiarly. She only did so because she could sense that it didn't bother him in the least.

"Maybe to you" Azami replied with a teasing smile, after all he was so easy to rile up "but some of us find it very enjoyable." She noted Dewa smiling and nodding his agreement. Yata made a face, but let the subject drop.

"So I've been curious" Dewa said. "You told us you joined Homra to fulfill your dream, but what is your dream exactly?" Azami brought her full attention to Dewa as she gave him a measuring look. He shifted slightly under the intensity of her look. Then she smiled and replied "secret."

Dewa blinked, but then shrugged. It wasn't really any of his business anyway, but Yata didn't seem to really like her answer. "What! You join Homra and expect to have Mikoto-san help fulfill your so called 'dream', but have no intentions of telling anyone what it is?!" he exclaimed in annoyance.

Azami laughed and said "you've hit the nail on the head Yata-san." Yata fumed at her response. "That's just selfish and rude" Azami's smile slipped ever so slightly as she looked at Yata. "I'm afraid" she said solemnly "that you will come to find that I'm a very selfish person Yata-san." She then stood up and walked out the door with her book.

Everyone starred at Yata accusingly. "Fine! I'm going, I'm going" he said with a huff. He raced out the door after Azami. Azami was walking when she heard Yata's shout "Oi! Adachi-san, wait up." Azamii turned around and waited for Yata to catch up. When he did she began to walk again with him skating slowly beside her.

"Um" he began. He paused not really knowing how to apologize, so instead he just said "since we're already out here, we might as well parole." Azami nodded her consent without pausing. They moved along in silence, Azamii perfectly comfortable, not having taken any offense to what Yata had said earlier, and Yata sweating nervously afraid he had hurt her feelings.

Suddenly they both heard the sounds of a fight coming from the alley near-by. They rushed to see what was going on and found a group of men harassing a woman.

"Hey you bastards" Yata yelled to get their attention "that's no way to treat a lady!" Azami resisted the urge to roll her eyes and settled for a quiet sigh at Yata's antics. "What the fuck do you want?" one of the men asked in annoyance.

He caught sight of Azami and smiled "Look pipsqueak, if you leave that pretty girl you have with you and leave, we won't kill you." He turned to the other man with him and grinned "we're not fond of picking on kids anyway" he laughed.

Azamii glanced at Yata and could practically feel the anger coming off of him in waves. "You fucking bastards" he growled, pulling back his shirt to reveal his tattoo he said "this is Homra's territory you ass wipes, and I'm going to fucking kill you."

The two men blanched as they recognized the tattoo and turned to run, but Yata pushed off with his skateboard used his bat to hit the one who had insulted him in the back of the head, then he proceeded to run down the other guy and hit his legs out from under him.

"I'm sorry, we didn't know you were Homra" the man blubbered as Yata towered over him now. Azami made her way to the trembling girl and asked if she alright, when she nodded Azami told her to leave. Azami watched her go as the guys' cries of pain rang out.

"Yata-san, I think that's enough of a lesson for him" Azami called. Yata looked over at her and grunted. If he had hit him much more the man would have died. "Let that be a lesson to you bastards, don't screw around in Homra's territory, got it?" The man nodded the best he could.

"Che" Yata walked away from him with his skateboard under his arm. "And let that be a lesson to you too Adachi-san" Azamii looked at him in question. "Always have pride in Homra" he said haughtily. Azamii smiled "Oh, I will"

Yata showed his tattoo once more and said "I mean it. Don't forget that this symbolizes Homra's pride." Azami looked over at him intrigued. The symbol of Homra's pride. She nodded her understanding.

She would take that to heart, because she felt pride in Homra, in her being a member, even if she had previously thought they were just gangster wanna-be's, she now understood that they were much more than that.

Azami noticed that it was getting dark outside and sighed. "I need to be getting back home Yata-san" Yata looked over at her and nodded "See ya tomorrow" he said and then skated off in the direction back to the bar slightly disgruntled at not having apologized like he had earlier intended. Azamii continued the route they had been taking.

Not ten minutes later she heard sound coming from another alley. She hesitated. She had practiced a little with the powers she had received from Mikoto, but she didn't really have any confidence in her control yet, but she remembered Yata's words and decided to go check it out.

After all, this was Homra's territory and it was her job as a member to protect it and uphold its pride. At that thought, she smiled.

When she walked into the alley she saw five men, all with guns, standing over a woman and a small child. They turned around at the sound of Azami's approach and grinned. Azami froze. She didn't know if she could take all of them without letting those two get hurt.

Maybe it would have been better to try and go get help, but she quickly disregarded that idea. It was too late for maybes and what ifs and besides, by the time they would have made it back, it would have already been over.

"Well, hello pretty lady" one of the men said. He looked to be the boss since he exuded an aura of confidence while the others appeared to look to him to see what to do next. "Have you come to play with us?" his grin turned lecherous as his eyes roved over Azami. Azamii frowned.

"More like to stop you" she growled. The men burst into laughter while the woman looked up with a small look of hope in her eyes, but that was quickly vanquished when a gun came level with her head. Azami froze.

"If you don't cooperate, I'll have my subordinate here blow her head off" the man said. Azami felt her mind racing, trying to think of a way to save them. The man must have noticed because he said" How about this? You entertain me a bit, and I let these two go, how does that sound?"

Azami glanced over at the woman and her daughter, tears now streaming down the woman's face silently as she looked at Azamii almost pleadingly, while her little girl sobbed.

Azami realized that it was the only way that all of them would get out of this alive. If Azami hadn't interfered this wouldn't have had to happen to her, but Azami didn't regret it. She knew that the men had planned on raping the woman, and most likely her daughter too, if she could prevent that and get them out of this alive, then it was worth the price.

Azami braced her back up against the brick wall and turned off her emotions.

Spreading her legs obediently she drifted off into a different place. The rough hands on her body were too distant for her to feel, the sharp pain completely unnoticed as well has the man's laughter turned to grunts of pleasure. Instead she was in the future. Her dream had been achieved and she was happy, truly happy.

She had always been like that, able to put off any current feelings to achieve something greater for the future that she was always looking forward towards. Even at the age of ten, when she realized that she wanted to be a doctor, she began to save all of her money. When children her age and older were frivolously spending their money, she was saving for her future of moving away from her parents and reaching her goal.

Azami smiled to herself as she thought back to her new dream. She didn't know really what had come over her when she saw Mikoto Suoh, but the whys and hows were unimportant. She had a dream that only he could make come true, and she had every intention of making it. She had always been a selfish person.

It didn't matter what it took to make her dream come true, she would do it, and she wouldn't look back. She had acknowledged this about herself and accepted it as who she was a long time ago. Just like her ability to sense others emotions. She never told anyone about it, afraid that it would interfere with her goals, but it had come in handy more than once.

It allowed her to read others and let her know what she needed to do in order to achieve what she was trying to do.

Suddenly she felt herself come back to reality has her knees hit cement. She realized that the man was finished and that her legs must not have been able to sustain her weight any longer. He smiled down at her as the other men with him grinned.

"We no longer have any need for them" he said to the man with the gun "get rid of them." Azami felt her eyes widen as she met the gaze of the woman. She saw fear in the woman's gaze as the sound of a gun went off. The woman slumped to the ground with a pool of blood forming around her head lying on the pavement.

The screams of the little girl echoed in the heavy silence that had descended after the loud crack of the gun. "Mommy!" Azami heard before another loud crack of the gun went off, and the girl's, now limp, body followed her mother's onto the pavement.

Azami couldn't really comprehend the senselessness of what had just happened. She heard laughing and then felt a rough arm grab her forearm as she was hoisted to her feet.

"Let that be a lesson to you" came the man's gruff voice in her ear. Suddenly his screams filled the air as Azami let her arm burst into flames. Still screaming, he jerked away from her as the others looked at her in horror.

"What the hell are you?" came a choked cry, but Azami didn't answer. She turned towards them and let forth her vengeance.

After she had killed every one of the men, she shakily walked towards the two bodies. Her face was perfectly calm as she walked, realizing for the first time that blood trickled down her right leg. She ignored it and searched the woman's person for any sort of identification. She found a license. Hosaka Machi was the woman's name.

Azami glanced over at the charred remains of the men and made a sound of disgust in the back of her throat. With every ounce of strength she had left, she dragged the woman and her daughter's bodies away from the men who had done this to them. She found a park where she laid their bodies and arranged them with their eyes closed and their hands resting over their chests.

She picked a few flowers and put them underneath their hands and left. By now, Azami was physically exhausted. She could barely walk from her own injuries and exhaustion. Luckily, her house wasn't too far away. Noting her appearance in a window she passed, she attempted to clean herself up somewhat before entering her house.

She managed to clean the blood up off of her leg and straighten her disheveled clothes, but knew her hair was a lost cause.

Sighing, she made her way into her house, and glancing at the clock on the wall, realized it was nearly ten p.m. Her parents sat in the living room waiting for her. The atmosphere was tense, but Azami knew she didn't have the strength to deal with her parents at the moment, so the first thing she did when entering the room was to apologize for being late.

Her parents' tense postures didn't relax in the slightest bit. Her father began "We heard something very disturbing today." Azami felt her brow furrow. She hadn't been expecting this. "Not that we're saying we believe something so utterly preposterous" her mother jumped in quickly to say, a kind of edgy, nervousness radiating from her every pore, "but we would still like to hear your denial, just to make us feel a little better, you understand?"

Azami just stood there waiting for whatever her parents' latest idiocy was about. Her father didn't leave her waiting long "I was informed that a rumor has been going around your school that you are a member of that delinquent group Homra" he said testily.

"Now as your mother said, it's a preposterous idea, but the mere fact that it became a rumor must be due to some fault of yours. You realize me and your mother have reputations to keep up and we can't have you.."

"It's true" Azami interrupted. She saw flabbergasted expressions come to her parents' faces that were soon replaced by outraged ones.

"Azami don't you dare go spouting off such nonsense" her mother exclaimed angrily. While her father's faced turned to that look of cold rage he got "Young lady, if this is your idea of a joke, it isn't funny."

"It's no joke" Azami said pulling back her long hair to reveal the tattoo on her neck. Her parents' eyes zoomed onto the mark adorning her neck. "Get out" came her father's quiet voice.

Her mother's eyes widened and said nervously "Dear, calm down. It's obviously a fake. I told you we were ignoring Azami too much lately. This must be her attempt at getting attention.

Why, I bet she started the rumors herself. We just need to calm down and.." but she was interrupted by Azami sweeping past her as she made her way to her room. "Get back here right now" came her father's yell, but she completely disregarded it as she shut her door and locked it.

As she began to hurriedly pack she could hear her father beating on the door, screaming "for her to unlock it this instant" Shoving everything she thought she would need into a duffel bag she went to her window and unlocked it.

She paused at her reflection. Noticing how her long hair covered up the tattoo on her neck. Yata's words rang in her ears once again. _"Don't forget that this symbolizes Homra's pride" _he had said.

Quickly turning around and rifling through her drawers she found a hair tie and pulled her long hair into a pony tail. She then rummaged a little bit more, ignoring her father's screams from the other side of the door, and pulled out a pair of scissors. Pulling at her pony tail, she place the scissors to her hair and cut it all off in one go.

Her hair fell to the floor and the rest fell to fan out around her jaw. She walked back to the window and taking in a deep breath, realizing that she was near dead on her feet and probably wouldn't be getting much if any rest tonight, she opened her window and slipped out.

"Keep looking to the future" she reminded herself as she tried not to wince in pain at every step. Nothing else mattered. The adrenaline of the fight had long worn off and even the little rush that had pushed her out the window and away from her parents was long gone.

Whatever it took, she would do it. _"Always have pride in Homra_" She smiled to herself as she continued onward.

The next morning, Kusanagi found her sitting in front of the bar, looking almost dead. With a look of surprise he quickly made his way to her to make sure she was alive, but at the sound of him moving towards her, Azami turned her attention to him. Smiling she said "Think I could borrow your shower?"


	3. A Feeling of Regret

**A Feeling of Regret**

~2 years later~

Inside HOMRA sat a young woman with short, jaw length black hair and bright green eyes. She wore a white tank top with black shorts, knee-length black socks, and black tennis shoes. Sipping on a cup of coffee, she stared at the other persons in the room.

On the outside, she appeared completely calm and composed, and despite the dark rings around her eyes that were a tell tale sign of sleep deprivation, one would never be able to guess the internal turmoil that was taking place inside of her.

No one in the room was making any sound. The liveliness that usually pervaded the bar was eerily absent. Instead, a heavy pall of despair and disbelief hung in the air. It took everything the young woman had to remain outwardly composed as not only her own grief, but everyone else's in the room, seemed to slowly try and crush her.

But what really got her though, were the feelings rolling off of a certain person in the bar. The tall, red headed man, who had stoically sat at the bar as his right hand man had explained to all of the members what had happened last night, was like a seething volcano. The anger inside of him, which was buried just beneath the surface of his seemingly calm demeanor, frightened the woman. There was also an odd emptiness to his emotions, and this, above everything else, almost sent her into a frenzy.

She was terrified of what this all meant. She knew it was selfish of her, but there was only one way she could think of Totsuka Tatara's death, and that was that it was the end of her dream. There was no way, she knew, of accomplishing it now. Two whole years of work and devotion was now ended. It wasn't as if she didn't mourn Totsuka-san's death. It hit her hard.

He had, after all, understood her dream and tried to help her achieve it. Of course Anna and Kusanagi-san had as well, but not as much as Totsuka had. He had a way about him, but now it had all come to naught. She was sure, more than she had ever been sure in her life, that Suoh Mikoto would die avenging Totsuka, even if that was not what he would have wanted him to do, and that her dream would never come to fruition.

And just like she knew this, she also knew that she would only be able to stand by and watch as her king went to his death. This, perhaps more than anything else that she had come to comprehend in those last hours of walking into the bar and listening to Kusanagi explain what had happened, was what made her feel despair and hopelessness. She thought back to two years ago, when things had finally begun to turn.

_"What the hell happened to you?!" Kusanagi exclaimed as he quickly knelt down beside her to examine her for injuries. She laughed and merely replied calmly, "I think Hell is a little too dramatic Kusanagi-san, but it's as good as any other description I suppose. Now, I hate to ask, but about that shower….?" Kusanagi blinked in shock at her reply, but helped her too her feet none the less and slowly helped her make her way into the bar._

_ As they both stepped in, she noticed the bizarre quiet and emptiness, but supposed that no one would even usually be awake at this hour, let alone at a bar. Kusanagi led her upstairs, having to practically carry her as she didn't have the strength to make it up on her own. He led her past a door left ajar and showed her into another one. _

_It was small and was only a shower, but it looked like what Azami was sure, if she believed in it, heaven must look like. She sat down on the toilet, trying to regain a little bit of energy as Kusanagi got her a washcloth and towel. She thanked him and then watched him depart, feeling the worry and curiosity war within him for dominance. She sighed before getting to work. Stripping off her clothes she grabbed the washcloth and stepped into the shower._

_It took Azami quite a bit of time and all the hot water to finish due to the fact that she had to get out and sit down periodically to rest. After finally finishing though, she got out and dried off. It was then she realized she had no clothes. She glanced down at her dirty ones and grimaced. Now that they were off she could see the blood and dirt stains. Blood stains were all in her underwear and pants, and dirt and blood from the woman and little girl were all over her shirt. _

_She snorted thinking about how self-centered her parents were, not even noticing the stains all over their daughter's clothes. She thought back longingly to her duffel bag that she had had to ditch halfway to HOMRA as she hadn't had the strength to carry it. Maybe she could ask one of the other members to go get it from where she hid it when they arrived._

_Until then, however, she was stuck with just a towel. Grimacing at the thought of how weird it was going to be just walking around in a towel, she wrapped herself up and made her way out of the bathroom. When she stepped out, she noticed Kusanagi-san and Mikoto waiting for her. It seemed Kusanagi's curiosity had won out over his worry while she was showering and she could feel the same from Mikoto, as well. _

_Or maybe it's better to describe it as a questioning feeling? He was waiting to hear what happened not out of curiosity, but more out of wanting to know how it had happened and who had dared to do it. Before she could say anything though, Kusanagi handed her a shirt to put on. Giving him a grateful look, Azami stepped back into the bathroom and put on her bra and then the shirt. It was a white shirt, probably belonging to Mikoto, and it reached mid-thigh on her. _

_Because she was wearing a black bra, and part of the shirt was hanging off one shoulder, her bra was clearly visible. This didn't bother her in the slightest though, and she made sure to be careful that the shirt was long enough to cover what needed to cover before exiting._

_ When she came back out, she was surprised to find that Totsuka-san and Anna-chan had joined the other two. She came out in time to hear the end of Kusanagi-san's explanation. All eyes turned to her as she reappeared. _

_She thought about asking them to let her explain later so she could get some rest, but figured, by the looks she was getting, that that was highly unlikely so she went ahead with her explanation. Leaving out the part of her being raped, she told everything else that had happened, including her running away from home._

_When she told that part, however, she was surprised at the reaction she got. Mikoto didn't seem to really care one way or another, it seemed he was appeased at hearing that the culprit's had already been taken care of, and Anna kept her same dispassionate expression throughout the entire story, but Kusanagi and Totsuka were not happy._

_Totsuka was complaining about how that was not the way to have handled the situation, while Kusanagi was saying that they would probably be suspected of kidnapping or something. Azami quietly listened to their complaints until finally she felt something in her snap. _

_"Totsuka-san, Kusanagi-san" she practically growled. "My parents" she said addressing Kusanagi "care too much about their image to publicize my disappearance, let alone cause a ruckus about me being kidnapped by a delinquent gang that I've proclaimed to have joined, and" she now directed her gaze to Totsuka "it was the only way I could have handled the situation and still been able to stay a part of Homra. _

_Besides, what's done is done, and there's no use in crying over spilt milk anyway!" she yelled the last bit. She was exhausted and felt like she would drop at any second. Feeling the little bit of energy she had maintained leave after her outburst, Azami slowly slid down the wall and onto the floor without a care of what she was putting on display. "I'm sorry Adachi-san" Kusanagi began, keeping his eyes solely on her face._

_"It wasn't right of us to judge you when we weren't there." Azami merely shrugged slightly showing that she was over it and forgave them. Totsuka, giving her a careful look and asked, "Asami-chan, I've been wondering about this since after you joined._

_ I mean you aren't like most of those who tend to migrate towards King. You're not wild or violent nor do you have any major issues that I can see, besides maybe having inattentive parents ," he added in with a slight sheepish smile, "so why did you join Homra?" _

_Azami looked at him tiredly as she answered, "Only Suoh Mikoto can make my dream come true." Kusanagi and Totsuka shared a look, while Mikoto lazily watched Azami and Anna rustled around in her pocket before pulling out a marble. Azami looked at Anna calmly as Anna looked at her through the marble, but her attention was drawn away from her as Kusanagi asked "and what might that dream be?" _

_"You care." Anna whispered quietly. Everyone's attention turned to Anna in a blink. Azami smiled and replied "yes." A small smile graced Anna's lips as she replaced her marble back in her pocket. _

_"Um…Anna-chan?"Totsuka asked uncertainly. "I'll tell you" Azami interrupted. Totsuka turned his gaze on Azami expecting this to be a reply to Kusanagi's earlier question, but realized that King had walked over to stand in front of Azami. Both stared into one another's eyes, and then Azami began._

Azami stood up from her spot, gaining the attention of almost everyone in the bar. Now that everyone had had time to digest the news, she figured it was time to get started. Inside she was screaming. Screaming from anguish at what had happened. Screaming from fear and desperation at what she knew would happen. And screaming at herself for willing asking the question that would put it all into motion.

But she knew it would start one way or the other, and she selfishly wanted to do something. Anything. Anything that could stop all the emotions that were bombarding her from outside and inside. So she asked. "What comes next?" Everyone turned to look at Mikoto.

When he made no move to reply. Kusanagi repeated the question, this time making sure he knew it was directed towards him. "What comes next, Mikoto?" Mikoto lifted his head from the drink he has been solemnly staring at the entire time and looked around him at all the members.

One single word seemed to echo throughout the bar. "Revenge." Everyone seemed to process this new bit of information for a few seconds before the flurry of motion and yells obliterated the silence. "Yeah!" "Let's get whoever did this!" A chant of "No blood! No bone! No ash!" roared through the bar.

Azami merely sat back down with a plop. A resigned look on her face. She glanced over to Kusanagi, and they both shared a look. She felt a weak smile come to her face. Not one of amusement. There wasn't a trace of amusement on her face. If anything, she looked as if she were in pain and trying to hide it.

Kusanagi understood what this meant. Mikoto's Sword of Damocles had never been in the best of shape, and with what had just happened, it was surely in even worse condition. This hunt for revenge would surely send it over the edge. The selfish part of Azami hoped that it would.

Then she wouldn't have to live knowing she had failed. But as she looked around at all the members, some still quietly chanting, some sobering up for the task, some still looking on the verge of tears, Anna sitting next to Mikoto with terror and sadness leaking from her doll like face, Kusanagi with sadness and uneasiness covering him like a blanket, she knew that she wouldn't want to lose them.

Not if she were going to lose Mikoto and Totsuka. So she calmly squished that selfish wish, and walked over to the bar to get a refill of coffee.


	4. A Discovery and Complication

A Discovery and Complication

Azami awoke with a start. Breathing heavily, she looked around her apartment trying to come back to reality. After calming down a bit, she pulled her sweat soaked shirt away from her chest to fan herself a little. She'd had another nightmare.

This nightmare had been plaguing her for months now. It wasn't the same one she'd had since two years ago, the one where she was being held down by men and raped. The one where, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't produce her flames or use her strength to fight back.

No. That dream had become so familiar to her over the past two years, that now that she wasn't having it, she was uneasy, or maybe it was due to the dream that had replaced it. Yes, definitely because of the new dream.

The dream where she helplessly watched as everyone she had come to know and love died. The one where Mikoto's Sword of Damocles fell in slow motion to the earth. She shivered, though she didn't know if it were from the dream or the sweat, which coated her body, turning cold.

Getting up out of bed, she slowly made her way to the shower. Stepping in and turning on the water, she stood under the torrent as she thought. It had already been three months since Totsuka's death, and yet still there was no sign of his killer, the Colorless King.

Anger flared within her whenever she thought of the man. It's not as if she wanted to rush her King to his death by finding him, but at the same time she **wanted **to find him. There were numerous reasons why.

She wanted to find him, so that Totsuka could be avenged. Even if she knew that's not what he would have wanted; it's what she wanted.

She wanted to find him, so that she no longer had to slowly watch the deterioration of Mikoto. He seemed to grow worse with every day, and it scared her.

And lastly, she wanted to find him, so that everything could go back to how it was supposed to be, or at least as much as it could without Totsuka and most likely Mikoto. She wanted the others to go back to themselves, instead of the anger and melancholy states they were still in.

Getting out of the shower and drying off, she threw the towel around herself and made her way into her bed room. As she got her clothes out, she heard the buzzing of her phone. Sighing, she walked over to it and noticed in alarm that she had six missed calls from Kusanagi.

The last venture they had made was a complete bust, ending up in Mikoto's imprisonment, and so she had assumed it would be a while until they had another lead. Quickly picking her phone up, she called Kusanagi back.

Waiting with baited breath while the phone rang, she heard the click and the "Where were you?" from Kusanagi.

"I was taking a shower. Now is there a reason you've been blowing up my phone?" Her tone was too eager, too expectant for any offense to be taken from the question. "We found him," came the reply.

Azami nearly dropped her phone in shock.

"You have him?!" she exclaimed. Silence on the other end a moment before, "No, he got away unfortunately." Azami sighed. She was even more impatient to find him since Mikoto had to be taken into the Blue King's custody.

She knew it meant he didn't trust his control any longer.

"You let him get away?!" she nearly screamed. "No…well...just calm down and come to the bar. I'll explain everything there," and then she heard a click signifying the end of the conversation.

Sighing in annoyance, she quickly got dressed and made her way to the bar.

_There was silence to her confession. Most everyone in the bar stared at her in shock. She fidgeted uncomfortably. Maybe she'd made the wrong decision. Maybe she shouldn't have told them after all. _

_There were reasons she'd never told anyone about it before._

_She could feel the shock radiating off of most of the members in the bar, not that it wasn't obvious for most considering their facial expressions._

_Though she did notice that Mikoto and Anna didn't seem shocked in the least. "Surprise, surprise," she thought sarcastically._

_Those who weren't necessarily shocked were… well…pensive maybe. That worried her even more than the shock of the others._

_Suddenly, the silence was broken by Totsuka, "Has anyone else noticed that that means the only two females we have in our clan are Strains? I wonder if that means we can't attract normal women" he said a with a consternated expression._

_Kusanagi snorted. "Don't be stupid, it's just a coincidence." Suddenly everyone started speculating on Totsuka's theory. With a sigh, and a slight roll of the eyes, Azami sank into a stool. She'd only been a part of Homra for a week and hadn't been sure how the news would go over._

_She hadn't expected this, but certainly wasn't protesting it. It was much better than how she'd feared. Of course, maybe she'd been too worried considering they had a mind reading kid running around._

_She had to admit though, when she first heard of Strains she had been very surprised, and honestly pleased. She wasn't a freak, there were others with abilities. She'd always thought she was either crazy or some weird anomaly. _

_Which apparently she'd been closer with the anomaly guess._

_She looked down when she felt a tug on her shirt. She saw Anna, who had a slight smile on her face. She had no doubt that Anna had already known all about her 'power', but she'd been relieved when Anna had waited for Azami to say it herself._

_Smiling down at Anna, she realized that they would definitely be comrades. They were not only just the only females in the group, but also the only Strains. She also had a feeling that Anna had every intention of helping her with what she wished to achieve._

"_So, can you tell what I'm feeling right now?" came an excited voice to her left. Turing to see Shouhei, she couldn't help but laugh. "I don't even need my ability to tell that" she teased._

As Azami interred the bar, she looked around remembering where everyone had been that day. She sighed, she'd been doing that a lot the past months, and made her way over to Kusanagi. Listening intently to what he had to say, she was perplexed to say the least.

"Why would the Black Dog get involved? Surely he was loyal to the former Colorless King, but that doesn't mean he'd just jump to the next one as soon as he made his appearance, does it?" Kusanagi merely shrugged, clearly not knowing the answer.

"It doesn't matter why, only that he's helping him," he said. Azami nodded, not being able to argue with the logic. All that mattered was that he was in the way. "So what do we do about him? Are you strong enough to take him?"

Kusanagi seemed to contemplate his answer before saying "Probably, but I can't say 100% sure." Azami grimaced.

Things were getting more complicated than she thought they would.


End file.
